This invention relates to testing of furnace and boiler tubes or the like using a plurality of ultrasonic transducers inside the tubes, and more particularly relates to an improved transducer carrier which can position ultrasonic transducers against the interior of such tubes for determining their thickness.
Furnace convection tubes and boiler steam tubes are often so closely clustered that their outside walls are inaccessible for conventional ultrasonic thickness inspection such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,003.
Several devices have been developed which enable testing of tube wall thickness from the tube interior. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,021,706 and 3,952,581 and British Patent No. 1,172,385 are exemplary of such devices. More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,370 issued which describes a transducer positioner for testing tubes from the interior.
The prior art devices described in the above-noted references all are satisfactory to varying degrees, but a need has existed for an improved transducer carrier which is portable and can be used on tubes of widely varying diameters and lengths. Such a carrier is provided by this invention.